


The Arena

by theaceupmysleeveisme



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: AU, But Not Much, Canon Divergence, F/M, I honestly don't love this???, Violence, blood mention, but before four, but we're gonna try it anyway, i got bored so here's a fic, post series three
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-08 09:20:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18891703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theaceupmysleeveisme/pseuds/theaceupmysleeveisme
Summary: When Merlin, Prince Arthur, and the knights of the round table go on a hunting trip to help relax, they don't expect to be captured by people who are looking for fighters. The knights are forced to fight for others entertainment in the arena, and if they don't, they will suffer.When I wrote this fic I kinda rushed through it so it's not my best work, but I wanted to post it anyway!





	1. Chapter 1

Arthur sighed, staring out his bedroom window. His father hadn't been the same since Morgana's betrayal. Though, to be fair, no one had. None of them had seen it coming. Morgana was loved by everyone. For her to turn so cold-hearted, well, it seemed impossible.

"Good morning, sire!" Merlin burst through the Prince's doors, breakfast tray in hand. Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Don't you know how to knock?" The prince's servant simply grinned. 

"Just trying to surprise you, sire." Merlin set the tray down on Arthur's desk, wiping his hands on his shirt. His expression grew worried when the prince said nothing, still gazing out his window. Merlin dipped his hand in the water jug, flicking little droplets at his prince. 

"Merlin!" Arthur yelled, glaring at his servant. 

"Yes, my lord?" Arthur grabbed one of the spoons off the tray, flinging it at Merlin, who quickly ducked, used to this type of thing. Merlin went to grab the spoon off the floor, keeping a wary eye on Arthur, in case he decided to throw something else at the poor manservant. "You see? Back to your normal prat-ish self." The prince scoffed, and sat at his table to eat breakfast. As Merlin gathered laundry, he hummed a small tune.

"Merlin."

"Yes?"

"Shut up." Merlin stopped for a moment, before humming a quieter tune. He quickly moved about his daily chores, leaving the prince to eat breakfast in silence. The silence was almost worse for Arthur; it allowed him to think about what had happened within the past two months. Camelot has been rebuilding, but it wouldn't be back to itself for a long time. 

➿➿➿➿➿

Merlin made his way quickly through the castle halls. Servants hustled about, carrying on with their daily tasks like they always did. But the air seemed darker, the tone was less cheerful. Lancelot brushed past Merlin, to focused in his thoughts to notice the manservant.

      "Lancelot!" Merlin called out to his friend.

       "Yes?" The knight glanced to see who was calling his name. "Oh, Merlin! Just who I need to see. Have you seen Prince Arthur?" 

      Merlin shook his head. "That's what I was going to ask you! I've been searching for him everywhere. Gaius wants to talk to him about the king." Lancelot nodded his head in understanding, stepping aside to let a maid pass.

      "Well, if you see him, tell him the council wishes to talk with him about Camelot's current... situation." Lancelot bid farewell to his friend, allowing Merlin to hurry off and find Arthur. After a few moments of asking around, an idea dawned on the warlock. Quickly, he headed to the training yard, and was pleased to find the prince hacking away at the training dummies. He winced as Arthur took the head off two dummies in one side swing of the sword. The prince scoffed, kicking the dummy's head.

       "Well, you certainly showed him." Arthur whipped around, nearly lopping his manservant's head off at the statement. Arthur sighed when he noticed who has spoken up. 

      "Merlin! What were you thinking?" Merlin shrugged. "Oh, that's right, I nearly forgot. You don't think." He opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it.

      "I only came to tell you that the council wants to speak with you." Arthur scowled, stabbing the ground with his dirt. "Unless you want me to tell them you are too busy killing all the training dummies?" Merlin was cut off with a smack from the prince, who still said nothing. "So... that's a yes?" 

      "Merlin, clean my sword, and polish my armor. I'll be in the throne room when the council needs me." Merlin rolled his eyes, grabbing the sword out of the ground. "Oh, and Merlin?" The young warlock looked up to see a glove flying towards his face. "Don't forget to wash that too." A few of the knights could be heard snickering at the boy's misfortune. 

      "Right away, sire." Merlin muttered under his breath.

➿➿➿➿➿

       Merlin was making his way towards the throne room, wincing at the sound of loud voices coming from the other side of the door. Quietly, he slipped in to see that Arthur was the main cause of the near yelling. The warlock stood next to Gwen, who was listening intently to the conversation.

     "What's going on?" He whispered. She turned to him slightly, keeping her eyes on Arthur.

       "The council isn't too hopeful about the king's condition, and they want Arthur to step in as sovereign ruler in case he doesn't recover." Merlin winced. That explained his sour mood. "Arthur refuses, saying that Uther will get better." Gwen sighed as the prince continued to argue with the council.

      "I'm not ruling yet, and that's final!" Arthur managed to silence the voices. He turned to Gaius, looking for someone to back him up. "Isn't it true that my father should recover?"

       "Well, sire...." the court physician seemed hesitant. 

       "Come on, Gaius. Spit it out." One of the council members urged.

      "The king isn't suffering from a physical illness. It's more of a mental affliction, one that only he can decide whether or not he recovers from." This caused the council to murmur amongst themselves. "But," Gaius began again, silencing their whispers. "I believe that the king can make a full recovery." Arthur nodded, satisfied.

"Thank you, Gaius." He shifted to address the council. "Now, there's nothing to worry about. Meeting adjourned." As the council began to disperse, Merlin noticed the melancholy expression that had made its way back onto the prince's face. He let out a sudden, sharp breath when Gwen elbowed him, hard.

"What was that for?" He hissed, rubbing his ribcage. That was going to leave a bruise. 

"Try and cheer him up!" Gwen jerked her head in Arthur's direction.

"Me?" Merlin asked incredulously. "Why me? Why don't you go and cheer him up, give him a kiss or something- gah!" Gwen elbowed him again. "Would you stop doing that?!" The stubborn woman simply gave him a push towards Arthur. Merlin sighed, walking up to him. The prince didn't even acknowledge his servant, he simply stared at the closed doors to the throne room. Merlin cleared his throat, attempting to get the man's attention. Still Arthur paid no mind to the warlock. Merlin cleared his throat again, louder.

"If you have something wrong with your throat Merlin, talk to Gaius." Arthur muttered, sitting down on the throne. Merlin turned towards Gwen, an irritated expression on his face. He pointed at Arthur in an "now what?" gesture. Gwen simply waved her hand, mouthing for Merlin to try again. The servant rolled his eyes, shoulders drooping. He turned back to the prince.

"Sire?" Merlin started. Arthur gave a slight, noncommittal grunt in response. "I wanted to tell you... uh..." Merlin glanced around hopefully for an idea. He should've planned this ahead of time. Arthur was looking at the manservant expectantly now, waiting for him to finish. 

"Yes?"

"Well, you seem down lately, so I thought- well, Gwen thought- I mean..." the prince scoffed at Merlin's stuttering. "I thought that because you seem in need of cheering up, that you and some of the knights could go on a... hunting trip?" Merlin felt like kicking himself as soon as the words left his mouth. Arthur going on a hunting trip meant that Merlin would be going on a hunting trip. The prince seemed to consider the idea for a moment, his expression brightening slightly. 

"That's.... actually not a bad idea! Well done, Merlin." The warlock grimaced, passing it as a smile. "Begin the necessary preparations. And don't forget to sharpen my sword before you pack it!" 

"Of course, sire." Merlin bowed his head slightly, making his way out of the throne room, where he found Gwen waiting.

"Well?" She asked, her arms folded. 

"He wants to go on a hunting trip." Merlin told her. She smiled.

"That's great news, Merlin!" Gwen turned, starting to leave. She paused, facing Merlin. "Thank you. I just hope that this gets him out of the slump he's been in the past two months." Merlin watched as she quickly left him.

"Oh, yes, great news." He muttered irritably. The angry servant began to make the preparations for another one of the prince's... oh-so-wonderful hunting trips. Yet another mistake made by Merlin.


	2. Chapter 2

     "Hey, Merlin!" Gwaine called out to the boy. "Can you get me some more of that stew you made? It was fantastic." Merlin sighed, putting down his own bowl. He hadn't even gotten a bite yet. And it sounded like he wasn't going to, especially considering the other knights had begun to ask for more as well.

      "And, Merlin?" Arthur's voice made the servant wince. "Once you're done, make sure you check on the horses." And there it is. More thankless chores. Not that he wasn't used to it at this point. Quickly, he spooned the remaining food into the knight's bowls, one by one, simply nodding as they thanked him. 

      "Well, if you all are done eating my portion of the food, I'm going to wash the dishes." The knights laughed, handing off their dirty bowls to the servant. 

      "Merlin, wait! You forgot to check the horses!" Merlin rolled his eyes, letting the bowls fall from his arms with a loud clank.

      "Right away, sire. Would you perhaps like me to tuck you into your bedroll before I go?" Laughter from the knights echoed in the dark woods at his comment. 

      "I'd like you to tuck me in, Merlin." Gwaine joked, grunting as Elyan elbowed him jokingly. 

      "Yeah, Merlin! Why don't you tuck us all in?" Percival chimed in, triggering a whole new round of laughter. Lancelot chuckled, standing up.

      "I'll help you with the horses, Merlin." The two friends walked off into the distance, the sound of laughter following them even once the knights themselves were nearly out of sight. They walked in silence, allowing Merlin to think, to reflect on the past few days.  Times in Camelot had been tough for everyone, but Merlin especially. It seemed like at every turn he would have some new peril thrown at him, someone he loved taken away. Merlin felt his breath hitch at the thought of the ones he had lost. The anniversary of Freya's death was in a week. Merlin had thought he was able to put that aside, but seeing her in the puddle two months ago had reopened the wound. "-lin? Merlin?" The warlock snapped his head up, breaking away from his apparent trance by Lancelot's voice. He suddenly became aware of the tear that had begun it's decent down his face.

      "I'm alright." He whispered, trying to ease his friend's worries. Lancelot looked unconvinced.

       "You don't seem alright, Merlin. I've been saying your name for two minutes. I honestly thought you had somehow gone to sleep standing up." Merlin gave a small huff that could've passed for a laugh.

      "I feel like I could. Arthur has practically made me do all the work on this trip." Lancelot sent him an amused glance, but it morphed back into a serious one. 

      "Do you want to talk about what's bothering you?" Merlin gave a slight shake of his head, but once glance at his friend said that he wasn't going to drop the subject.

      "In one week, it marks the anniversary of the death of Fre-... of someone I loved." Lancelot nodded, encouraging his friend to go on. "She was amazing, Lancelot. I loved her. I loved her so much that I was going to leave Camelot to be with her. We were going to find a home with a mountains, a few fields, wildflowers, a couple of cows, and- and-" Merlin felt his breath hitch. He could practically hear Freya's voice saying it in his head. "And a lake. We were going to be happy." Lancelot looked at the ground, trying to process his friend's words.

      "What happened to her?"

      "She was killed." Merlin could hear his voice become sharp. "She was killed, and it wasn't even her fault. She'd been cursed to become a terrible beast at night. She attacked the knights of Camelot, and Arthur-" Merlin swallowed the lump in his throat as Lancelot watched his friend with wide eyes. "Arthur killed her. He didn't know it wasn't her fault."

       "Merlin, I'm so sorry."  Lancelot said gently. Merlin cleared his throat, trying to get past it.

       "It's alright." He paused fiddling with his hands. "I knew I shouldn't have suggested this hunting trip." He muttered under his breath. Merlin noticed a small smile spread across Lancelot's face, the knight's expression turning slightly incredulous.

      "You suggested the hunting trip?" 

      "Is it that hard to believe?" The two men chuckled to themselves. "Actually, it was mostly Gwen's fault." Understanding seemed to dawn on Lancelot.

       "I see. Well, if Guinevere put you up to it, there was no way you were getting out of it." Merlin laughed, nodding. Lancelot glanced back at the glow of the campfire, before patting one of the horses. "Seeing how the horses are fine, we ought to back over there."

      "Great." Merlin deadpanned. "Let's go back so I can do more work."

      "It's not that bad, Merlin. I'm sure that Arthur will let you rest at-" Merlin lifted up his hand, cutting the knight off.

       "Do you hear that?" He whispered, head tilted. Lancelot quirked an eyebrow, listening for the sound Merlin heard. They waited for a moment, but still heard nothing.

       "Maybe it was one of the other knights?" Lancelot suggested quietly. Merlin shook his head.

       "No, I don't think so. It sounded too feminine." The warlock continued to listen with an intent expression, but still heard nothing other than the night creatures. "Maybe you're right. It just sounded like a woman."

       "Maybe it was Gwaine, then." Lancelot said with a small chuckle, earning a snort from Merlin. The two began to walk slowly back towards the campsite, still unsure of the sound's origin. "Wait!" Lancelot suddenly hissed. "I think I heard it this time." A shrill, but faint, scream had echoed through the woods. Merlin nodded, his expression nervous. They weren't the only ones who heard it. The other knights had drawn their swords, and were making their way towards Merlin and Lancelot. 

      "Please tell me that was one of you." Arthur demanded as they reached the others. Merlin and Lancelot both shook their heads, earning a small groan from Gwaine.

       "I supposed we're going to find out what that was, then?" He muttered. Percival suddenly took off further into the woods, motioning for the other knights to follow him. More shouts could be heard now, both male and female. As the knights reached the source of the yelling, they saw a man and a woman desperately fighting off a large group of bandits. The knights took cover behind a small rise in the land, peaking over the top.

"They wear Cenred's crest." Elyan said, nodding towards the men. "They must be deserters." 

"We have to help them!" Arthur said, drawing his sword. The name Cenred still caused tension to ripple through the prince. "Leon, how many do you count?" The knight stood up, quickly taking in the amount of bandits. 

"I see fifteen, sire." Arthur grimaced at Sir Leon's statement.

"We've faced worse odds." Merlin pointed out. Arthur glanced back at the pair, wincing as the woman shrieked from pain. She had been cut with a sword. 

"Leon, Elyan, Gwain. Head around to the other side, while Percival, Lancelot, and I attack them from this direction." The prince gestured in the directions he wanted them to go.

"What about Merlin?" Lancelot whispered hurriedly as some of the knights went to circle around. Arthur chuckled.

"Merlin?" He started. "Well, try not to die." Merlin rolled his eyes as he watched Arthur and the knights draw their swords. They quickly surrounded the bandits, waiting for Arthur's command. "Now!" He yelled, the cry echoing. The bandits jumped in surprise as the knights charged them, swords raised. Somehow, the thieves managed to collect their wits, and let out their own battle cry, running back at the knights. Merlin crept from behind the safety of the hill, keeping his eyes on the battle. Quietly, the warlock would mutter a spell, causing a bandit somewhere to drop his weapon, or to trip. A sharp cry of pain cause Merlin to whip his head towards Lancelot. One of the men had cut along the knight's arm, forcing him to drop his sword. He was helpless as his foe raised an axe, ready to bring it down on the knight of Camelot. Merlin whispered a spell, reaching out with his hand, and the bandit went flying before he even got the chance to swing.

Lancelot stared in surprise for a moment, but then his gaze connected with Merlin's, and the knight gave his friend a knowing smile. Merlin returned the grin as Lancelot grabbed his sword of the ground, charging back into battle. The warlock noticed the pair who had been attacked in the first place rushing to help their saviors in any way they could. Slowly but surely, the men fell by the knights of Camelot. As Arthur plunged his sword through the final man's back, Merlin came out into the open, walking to the people they had just saved.

 

"What happened?" Arthur questioned. The man reached out his hand to shake the prince's. 

"Thank you, so much for your help." The woman began. "My husband and I were traveling with our cargo, when those bandits came out of nowhere." She gestured towards the now empty carts that lay just down the path. "I'm Sierra, and this is my husband, Matthew."

"I'm Arthur." The prince reached to shake her hand next. "And these knights that helped save you are: Sir Gwaine, Sir Leon, Sir Percival, Sir Elyan, Sir Lancelot, and," Arthur gestured towards Merlin. "Merlin is the one who spent the whole battle hiding behind that hill." 

"Whatever, clot pole. You were the one who told me to." Merlin scowled at the prince, who glared back with an equally irritated expression. The warlock walked over to the carts, examining them curiously. He couldn't help but feel suspicious. These carts looked an awful lot like cages. "What exactly were you carrying?" He called back. Sierra hesitated, looking unsure.

"It doesn't really matter." Matthew cut in cooly, saving his wife from having to answer. She nodded, seemingly at ease. Merlin narrowed his eyes as he watched her hand slowly travel towards the hilt of her dagger, grasping it gently. Arthur seemed to notice it to, and his own hand came to rest on the intricate hilt of his sword.

"I think it does." The prince began, his voice hard. "If you tell us what you were carrying, maybe we can help you get it back." Sierra and Matthew both shifted wearily. They were hiding something.

"There's not way you're going to get it back." Sierra finally said, breaking the heavy silence. "It took us forever to get those... supplies, and our boss will not be happy when we return empty handed."

"What supplies?" Elyan stepped forward, curious.

"Surely your leader will understand that you were attacked?" Leon said at the same time. Matthew shook his head.

"He is not a forgiving man." Matthew began. "We need to bring him something." Merlin felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. This wasn't good. The knights seemed to sense it too, each of them instinctively reaching for their swords. That action didn't go unnoticed by Sierra or Matthew.

"Well, good luck to you, then." Arthur said, taking a tentative step backwards. "We'll be on our way."

"I think not." At Matthew's words, the knights drew their swords, and spells raced through Merlin's mind. Sierra threw her head back, and began to chant, her eyes flashing gold. The knights charged her but didn't make it more than a few steps before collapsing to the ground. Merlin felt his thoughts become fuzzy as the woman continued to chant, louder and louder. In the back of his head, Merlin vaguely recognized it as a very powerful sleeping spell. The knights were soon unconscious, leaving only a dazed Merlin to face the pair. Sierra stopped her chanting, and she and Matthew regarded the servant curiously. 

"I don't know how you're still awake, boy." Sierra began harshly. "That spell has put some of the most powerful sorcerers in the land to sleep. Yet..." she cocked her head, looking him up and down. "Somehow, you remain awake. No matter." Merlin's brain screamed for him to act as Matthew drew a large knife from his belt. The warlock raised a shaky hand, attempting to mutter a spell. Sierra's eyes widened, then a chuckle sounded from her throat. "So you do have magic." Matthew stepped forward, raising the knife high, before bringing the hilt down onto Merlin's head, effectively knocking the boy out cold. "That will make the competition all the more interesting."


End file.
